Approximately 4,500 students in grades 4, 5, and 6 from around the state are preparing for the 17th annual Elementary Spell Bowl competition which will take place at over 20 sites around the state on Thursday evening, November 19. Over 400 teams of eight students each will compete. The competition for the Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington county areas will be held at Borden Elementary School. The competition will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Indiana Academic Spell Bowl is a team concept with no individual winners. Each round consists of one team member writing the correct spelling of seven words while competing against one team member from each other school. Students are seated on the gym floor for the competition. Each word is graded immediately and an individual scoring chart maintains a running team score as the evening progresses. While students are waiting to compete, they sit in a cheer block to cheer for their teammates.

Members of the Scott County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) held an unusually long hearing on October 14 so that those concerned about a Jeffersonville-based religious group's plans for development at the old Marysville Pay Lake property could voice their opinions.
Joseph Mullen is the construction manager for Voice of God Recordings Inc., the religious group which wants to develop the area into a campground and overnight facility for its members and its youth. Mullen and Daniel Evans, Voice of God public relations officer, presented those plans before the BZA and some 20 people that evening. BZA members present included chairman Gary Green, Sandee Owens, Dale Hobbs and Don Wilkerson. Also present was Area Plan Commission Director Jamie Knowles.
The group wanted a Conditional Use Variance (CUV) to allow the development of a Christian retreat at the lake, located on South Pleasant Ridge Road in Lexington Township. Mullen said Voice of God is a missionary group which operates worldwide to enrich people with the Christian experience as well as provide counseling and guidance. Voice of God is also in the recording and publishing business. The group's website offers more information on the business and church activities.

Julie Brawner’s commitment to providing support to residents of Scott county in Hanover has yielded significant results in helping the community reduce the drop-out rate, and has distinguished her service as a member of the Scott County AmeriCorps program. It was for this work that Brawner is this year’s recipient of the Governor’s Award for National Service. The Governor’s Awards for Volunteer Service are Indiana’s most prestigious awards celebrating the accomplishments of dedicated volunteers and practitioners from across the State. An individual is nominated in each of the seven categories of national service, youth, service-learning, faith-based, government service, and lifetime achievement.
As this year’s recipient, Brawner will be honored at the 6th Annual Governor’s Conference on Service and Volunteerism in Indianapolis on October 29th, during a special luncheon ceremony. This year’s awards will be presented by Miss America, Katie Stam, a resident of Seymour Indiana, and First Lady Cheri Daniels, wife of Governor Mitch Daniels.

Charges filed against a 33-year-old Scottsburg woman include a count of battery, driving while intoxicated and criminal recklessness after she allegedly purposefully struck her boyfriend's van and then hit her boyfriend with her car on Thursday evening, October 22, in Scottsburg.
Michelle Stacy, Scottsburg, was released on a cash bond of $1,500 the following day after attending her initial hearing in Scott Superior Court. She entered a not guilty plea to the charges and was assigned a jury trial date of January 26.
Stacy is accused of having struck the boyfriend's van outside the home of a cousin to the victim, Jordan Mack, 20, Scottsburg. According to a probable cause affidavit prepared by Sgt. Steven Herald of the Scottsburg Police Department, he and Patrolman Troy Ford were dispatched to the home on Cyprus Lane in response to a report of a pedestrian being struck by a car.

Two drug-related felony charges were scheduled to be filed by the Scott County Prosecutor's Office on Thursday, November 29, against a Scottsburg Middle School teacher and his son.
Mark Hildebrand, 56, and his 26-year-old son, Jade, were taken into custody on Tuesday, November 27, at their home on South Double or Nothing Road after nearly three pounds of processed marijuana was found there by Indiana State Police detectives and a trooper.
State police at the Sellersburg post received a tip about the father and son having marijuana. Undercover detectives and a state trooper went to the residence and interviewed the pair. After the interviews were completed, a search of the residence ensued. Approximately 2.9 pounds of the leafy illegal substance and several pieces of drug paraphernalia were allegedly discovered during that search, according to a news release from the post's public information officer, Sgt. Jerry Goodin. A photo of the marijuana found was released to the media. It showed a pile of dried marijuana that had been neatly bagged in sandwich wrappers.